The Fate of a Star - The One True King
by MilesAboveFantasy
Summary: The Astrals were left stranded on Eos to find their mother. They failed, and now the universe crumbles around them. They must now protect Eos from the dark, both from within their world and from the Void that threatens to destroy the universe. They place their faith in the One True King who will determine the fate of their star.


**A/N:**

A/N: A soft re-write of FFXV. The game was great, but had a lot of loose threads in the story and things that came out of nowhere. What really struck me are the things based heavily off the Fabula Nova Crystallis Mythos. The demons, for example, were clearly based off Cie'th.

I intend to explore the FFXV setting with the following being the primary changes: 1) Diablos is added to the Astrals, 2) Astrals were formally known as fal'cie before shedding their titles and fading into legend 3) Demons are actually cie'th, though the mechanics are slightly different than other Fabula Nova games 4) Ardyn has a back story 5) Aranea has shit to do in this story 6) So does Luna because 6 person party! 7) I will explore Luna/Noctis and Noctis/Prompto as equal ships.

This story will largely follow the PATH of the game, but other than that, the story will be changed as the parts above have been changed.

This first chapter is a prologue, about 2000 years before the game. The Astrals are called fal'cie in the past, but they fade into legends as Astrals.

* * *

 **The Fate of a Star - The One True King**

 **The Cosmogony**

 _The Astrals: Shiva, Titan, Ramuh, Bahamut, Ifrit, Leviathan and Diablos._

 _Gods left stranded on Eos by their creator._

 _The Purpose: to find the gates to infinity where the Mother of All Creation lay sleeping._

 _Eons pass. The universe around them crumbles, the mother gone. The Void encroaches on Eos, their home._ _They agree to protect their world from the darkness of non-existence._

 _Diablos refused – the Old War began._

* * *

"I'm sorry," Yunan Nox Fleuret, Oracle of the fal'cie, muttered under her breath as Titan's hand carried her down into the newly formed crater. It didn't matter, but it seemed appropriate. Titan couldn't hear her even if she screamed to the heavens as she so wanted to. The fal'cie couldn't speak or hear the human tongue, but rather, they communicated through thought. She sent encouragement towards the large being that carried her, holding the anger in her heart that she yearned to express.

 _Caught up in a war that wasn't ours for gods who care not at all for the lives of humans. Shiva be damned._ She shook her head at the thought, her blond hear clumping on her shoulder in a tangled mess. When was the last time she rested?

It wasn't a fair thought. Shiva did truly care for humanity, but life hadn't been fair in a long time. "So fuck her," Yunan said aloud. She kept the sob that threatened to spill from inside her chest bound to her heart. Ardyn deserved to see her at her best as she descended into the crater.

She looked up to see the meteor, suspended a thousand, maybe two, feet off the ground by Titan's other hand. Ardyn had offered to take Diablos' darkness within himself, rather than to let the Astrals crush him with the meteor as Ifrit so yearned. Even Titan agreed the loss of human life in the Duscae region would be too much, and offered to hold the meteor for eternity.

Titan's hand shuddered beneath her, returning her thoughts from the clouds. She was at the bottom of the crater. She gave one of Titan's hand an affectionate brush as she jumped off. Best to keep him in the dark. The fal'cie had feared the dark so.

She saw Ardyn's green robes from a hundred feet away and her heart raced like her wedding day as she ran. She fell to her knees beside him, cradling his broken body in her arms. Her love… forever stained by what the fal'cie had made them do.

She closed her eyes and recalled the day that Bahamut had arrived – the mighty dragon of the skies at her wedding! Her soul had been ecstatic the day the gods told them that they would have a role to play in the fate of their star. The alliance of Nox Fleuret and Lucis to save the world…

They were just tools from the start. They never got a day of happiness.

She felt a brush on her cheek, opening her eyes to find that Ardyn was awake. His face was scared, scorched like molten rock, the stubble that once framed his face in a handsome fashion long seared off. Black goo oozed from his mouth and eyes, his face pale and inhuman.

"My love," he spoke, voice raspy and wet.

Logic told her to run. That voice wasn't human. But they were in this together. Always had been, always would be.

"My love," she spoke back and brushed her hand through his now mushy hair. "They took everything from us."

"We saved the world," Ardyn croaked. "We saved humanity from the dark."

"The fal'cie used us," Yunan bemoaned. "I'll never forgive them."

"We did the right thing. The thing we had to do."

"We had to lose our happiness?"

"I always knew I would be willing to give my life for my kingdom. And I did. We saved the world. Do not despair. I have no regrets."

"Your children will not have a father."

Ardyn laughed as best he could as his body failed him. "They will have a world to live in." His body was melting in her arms.

"You are so good, Ardyn… too good. You don't deserve to lose your soul."

"I price I gladly pay."

"No," Yunan said. She grabbed Ardyn's hand. "I am the Oracle. I commune with the fal'cie. I will not let them wipe your soul from our star."

"So kind of you," Ardyn mumbled. "But there is nothing you can do."

"There is," Yunan said solemnly as she pressed her lips to his.

Ardyn pulled away. "Whatever you do, don't…"

Yunan ignored him, beckoning out to Diablos. The presence rested menacing incarnate in her heart. "Diablos!" she cried out loud for her husband's sake. "I offer you a fragment of my soul!"

"No!" Ardyn croaked, but he had no control of his body as darkness left him.

Yunan screamed as the darkness entered her. She remained strong, relying on Ardyn for support he didn't want to give. It was painful, but hardly a fragment compared to what Ardyn had had to do – the crater was proof enough of the extreme transfer of power that had taken place. Her poor husband… taking in enough power to burn a continent. And it would go down in history as the meteor that never landed.

 _Damn you, Bahamut,_ her heart roared. She didn't squash the thought. A speck of darkness was a part of her now. Diablos was within her.

The pain subsided and she met Ardyn's sad eyes, the last part of his husk of a body that hadn't started to deteriorate.

"I took," she said, pausing for breath. "I took a small amount of the darkness that was inside of you."

"The fal'cie…"

"Will never know that I did this," she answered immediately. She felt the fragment of Diablos inside of her quell, knowing it was in his best interest to remain undetected. "Now, you will always have a bit of light in side of you, my love. Your soul will always exist within the Void."

"Yunan…" Ardyn muttered. "All of this was for nothing…"

"Screw the fal'cie," Yunan retorted, standing up. "Because of this, your soul will always exist in the Void as Diablos will always exist within our world because of me. And as he regenerates, you will regenerated along with him as his vessel."

"He almost destroyed our whole species…"

"Better a species than a soul," Yunan hissed. "Goodbye, my love. You may never forgive me… The fal'cie will pay for what they did."

She ignored Ardyn's cries from behind as his body deteriorated. Probably best not to look. She felt the tiny ball of darkness inside her. She had work to do.


End file.
